Rotary water-meter



(No Model.)

' J. A. TILDEN.

ROTARY WATER- METER.

17127. Z. WLM/955615. y @lgen/507."

Nrrnn Sra'rns Parar trice..

JAMES A. TILDEN, OF HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HERSEY METER COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

ROTARY WATERnlVl ETER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,669, dated April 3, 1888.

Application nica Api-n 19, isst.

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JAMns A. TrLDnN, of Hyde Park, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, a citizen ofthe United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement 1n Water-Meters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to .the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

The invention is an improvement upon that described in my patent, No. 324,503, dated August 1S, 1885, and it relates especially to a balanced piston-that is, to a piston balanced by the water or fiuid pressure.

It also relates to a balanced piston having the port-plates secured to it to move therewith.

It further relates to various details of construction, all of which will hereinafter be fully set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a View, part in vertical section and partin elevation, of a meter containing the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view below the line x w of Fig. l.

The casing of the meter is preferably made in the two parts A A', which are bolted together. a is the water or liquid inlet. a is the distributing-chamber or chamber which supplies the measuring spaces or recesses b of the pistonchamber B. The pistonchamber Bis similar in shape to that described in my said patent, and the piston O is also of similar shape and operates in connection with the measuring spaces or recesses of the piston-chamber substantially in the manner therein specified. The distributing-chamber a' is connected with the measuring spaces or recesses by means of the passages or ports c in the lobes or arms of the piston. These passages have lateral openings or extensions to connect with the measl uring spaces or recesses. The piston has secured to it the port-plates D D', which are arranged or adapted to overlap or extend beyond the side wall of the pistonchamber sufficiently to cover said piston-chamber, and there must be plane or level surfaces d d extending back from the side wall of the piston-chamber of sufficient width to receive the plates D D', which lap thereon, and are also movable thereon as the piston moves in the chamber;

Serial No. 199.312. (No model.)

and in the drawings I have represented the wall d2 of the piston-chamber as formed by means of a metal casting or a vulcanized indiarubber or gutta-percha molding having the wide flange d, which shuts into a recess, ci, in the lower section, A, of the meter-case, and so that the upper section, A', shall lap thereon to hold it in place, and the flange d5, which has a screw-thread, d, upon its edge, which fits the screw-thread di of the lower section, A, of the case. This construction not only provides the level or plane surfaces d d', above referred to, but also the annular passage E, through which the measured water or iuid escapes from the measuring-spaces of the piston-chamber to the outlet e by means of the escape ports, passages, or recesses e', formed substantially of the shape represented in the drawings,and preferably in the lower surface of .the plate D and in the upper surface of the plate D', and these escape-ports are by the movement of the piston brought into line successively with holes e2 in the flanges d3 d5, so that so long as any portion of the ports e' covers said holes el there is a flow of water or liquid from the measuringspaces to the passage E.

Below the piston is a chamber, F, for the purpose of holding water or duid under pressure to bear against the lower port-plate, D'. This chamber is connected with the distributing-chamber a' by means of the port passages or holes c, extending through the piston and the plates D D'. It will be seenthat by this construction the water pressure downward upon the port-plate D by the liquid or water in the distributing-chamber a' is balanced by the pressure of the liquid o'r water in the chamber F against the port-plate D'. I have represented two port-plates as secured to the pisn ton by means of bolts fand nuts; but of course they maybe secured thereto in any other way, and one of them, at least, can be made integral with the piston.

The movement ofthe piston is communicated to the reducing-gear and registering mechanism substantially as described in my said patent. It will be seen that by this construction of meter the piston is caused to take a movement in the piston-chamber and form receiving and discharging spaces or chambers, as described in my said application-that is, by

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contact of the lobes of the piston with the wall of the pistonchamber, which contacts are maintained and broken as the piston moves in the chamber. It will also be seen that the measuring-spaces are supplied with water or fluid and emptied substantially. as described in said patent, the form and arrangement of the ports being, however, somewhat different.

It will be seen, further, thatv by attaching the port-plates to the piston and by providing the pressure-chamber F the piston is held balanced between two bodies of water or fluid of the same head or pressure. Consequently the piston may be run at great speed and very little friction, and the port-plates may be made of very light thin material, and I preferably use vulcanized india-rubber or gutta-percha.

I am aware that English Patent No. 11,485, dated December 14, 1846, for rotary and locomotive engines, to Elijah Galloway,shows a steam-engine having a piston with the upper plate secured thereto. It will be seen that the piston, as shown therein, is unbalanced in its operation-that is to say, the upper plate is exposed to a downward pressure equal in area to that ofthe sum of the areas ofthe discharging-spaces. It is further unbalanced in an area equal to the sum of the areas of these portions of the discharge-cavities that are in connection with the escape-ports of the flanges of the chamber. In my invention all this unbalanced eii'ect, producing an amount of friction which is detrimental to the easy, correct, and durable action of a meter, is relieved by securing the lower plate to the piston,causing it to be moved with said piston the same as the top plate. rIhe piston is thus entirely relieved of any excess of pressure perpendicular to its plane of revolution, as there is a like pressure-chamber at the bottom or below the operative chamber connected by passages extending through the piston, which enable the fluid to exert an upward pressure on the lower plate equal to the downward pressure on the top plate. The outletports in the top plate are directly opposed by like recesses in the under plate and are of the same shape and area.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States-- l. In a meter, the combination of a pistonchamber having measuring spaces or recesses with a piston and plates securedv thereto to move therewith, substantially as described.

2. In a meter, the combination of a chamber having measuring spaces or recesses, a distributing-chamber,and a pressure-chamber, with a piston and port-plates secured thereto to occupy the position in relation to the distributing-chamber and pressure-chamber indicated, whereby the piston is held balanced between the two bodies of water or iluid of the same head, substantially as'described.

3. The combination, in a meter, of the piston-chamber having the measuring spaces or recesses, the piston C, having the ports e, and the port-plates D D', secured to the piston and having the escape ports or passages or recesses e', substantially as described.

et. The combination, in a meter, of the piston-chamber having measuring spaces or recesses, the piston having the port-plates D D, providedwith the escapeportsorpassageseand the escape-passage E, and the flanges d3 d5, having the holes e, which register with'the ports or recesses e of the plates D D', substantially as described.

5. The combination of the distributingchamber a', the piston-chamber having measuring spaces or recesses, the piston having the port-plates D D secured thereto,the pressurechamber F, and a passage or passages for connecting the chamber a with the chamber F, substantially as described.

6. The combination, in a meter, of the distributing-chamber a', the piston-chamber having measuring spaces or recesses, the pressurechamber F, the piston- C, port-plates D D', secured thereto, the inlet-passages, the escapeports e e, and escape-passage E, substantially as described. 7. The combination, in a meter, ot' the Wall of the piston-chamber, having the surfaces d dextending outward therefrom,with a piston having port-plates secured thereto, adapted to overlap or extend upon the surfaces d d and to be movable thereon, substantially as described.

8. In a meter, the combination of the shell with the wall d2 of the piston-chamber, having the langes da d5, and forming in connection with the casing of the meter the escape-passage E, communicating with the outlet e, substantially as described.

JAMES A. 'IILDEN.

Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DoLAN.

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